Late Victorian
architects and their clients loved towers.Always picturesque – often functional - towers were found on
residences, commercial buildings, schools, government buildings and,
libraries and churches.The
architects found ample precedent for towers in the styles they revived or
emulated, most especially Gothic and Romanesque.Given this popularity, we are not surprised to see two towers at
Shadyside Presbyterian Church.

The lantern itself is
a tower, centrally located, cubical in form with a pyramid shaped roof.In that sense, we worship within a tower.More easily recognized as a tower is the cylindrical structure
attached to the north side of the building that houses the pastor’s
study and the music director’s office.This round form is ubiquitous in Richardsonian Romanesque Revival
architecture, along with numerous other shapes.

Allegheny
Courthouse Main Tower & Four Tower Types at Jail

A frequent model for
the church, the Allegheny County Courthouse and Jail displays a wide range
and large number of towers.Of
course, the dominant feature is tall main tower over the main entrance
which is partially counterbalanced by two shorter towers on the opposite
side of the courtyard.These
demonstrate an at least intended functionality.The main tower was to provide storage space and to draw clean,
fresh air into the building from high above the city’s sooty streets.The lower pair exhausted air from inside.

Courthouse
Pavillion as Tower

Many features of this
government complex can be read as towers. The
corner pavilions can be seen as towers anchoring the four corners of the
courthouse and were referred to as such, during the architectural
competition.Half round
cylinders house judges’ chambers project from either side of the north
and south entrances to the courtyard.Might these be the model for the pastor’s study at
Shadyside
Church
?The chambers and the study
relate to their main structures in similar ways.

Similar
Use of Towers for Judges' Chambers and Pastor's Study

When used as office
space, such towers are both charming and awkward.They allow views in three directions from a single vantage point.(This made towers useful for defensive purposes in medieval
buildings – not a likely feature today.)The semicircular plan, however, yields inefficient placement of
furniture, unless it is custom built.

There is precedent
at Richardson's Trinity Church, Boston, for Shadyside's Pastor's Study.

Tower at
Trinity Church

(photo
courtesy Emily Slaughter, Southern Star Photography, NC)

Three firms made up
of
Richardson
’s apprentices made significant contributions to the city’s built
environment around the turn of the twentieth century:Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge of
Boston
; Longfellow, Alden & Harlow of
Pittsburgh
and
Boston
, and Rutan & Russell of
Pittsburgh
.By far the most prolific in
the region was second who were responsible for such landmarks as the
Carnegie Institute and Library in
Oakland
and downtown’s Duquesne Club. The Longfellow firm also had a thriving
domestic practice.

Tower
at Sunnyledge, Dr. McClelland Residence

Several of the
private residences of the firm feature towers.Shadyside member Dr. James McClelland built his home on the steep
hillside above
Fifth Avenue
just a block from the site of the church.Now adapted for use as a bed and breakfast, Sunnyledge is anchored
at its east end by a tower that served as the physician’s office.In basic form, the tower is similar to the church’s which
followed it by three years.The
home was designed by Frank Alden who sheathed it in smooth, subtly
detailed brickwork, reminiscent of
Richardson
’s Emmanuel Episcopal Church on the city’s North Side.

Similar
Towers at Boggs House & Shadyside

Towers often enclose
stairwells and express their function clearly. The North Side home of R.
H. Boggs has such a tower.Longtime
Pittsburghers will remember Boggs & Buhl department store.In terms of feature for feature correspondence the Boggs tower
closely foreshadows
Shadyside
Church
’s tower.Both begin with a
battered (inward sloping) base and are formed of random course,
quarry-faced ashlar, imparting a stable and rugged appearance.The windows are sharply incised into thick walls.The Boggs home has a gabled roof extension, tying the conical tower
roof to the main building roof.A
similar feature joins the pastor’s study to the main church.Like Sunnyledge, Longfellow, Alden & Harlow designed this home,
which is also being adaptlively re-used as an inn.

Tower
carried over from medieval times by Sir Christopher Wren at London's St.
James Church

A principal purpose
for churchtowers is to call
attention to themselves.Their
height distinctive shape allow them to be located among other buildings
from a distance.Also, they
often house bells to summon worshippers.Towers were a feature extensively developed in medieval churches.During the Renaissance, when Classical architecture was emulated,
towers with spires were retained, especially in the
London
churches designed by Christopher Wren.

Popular
Tower of Richardson's Brattle Square Church

Some towers achieve
greater esteem than the buildings they serve.When H. H. Richardson’s
Brattle
Square
Church
proved too expensive for its congregation to support, it was threatened
with destruction.Its tower,
although only a few years old, was so popular that the public began a fund
to preserve it.When another
congregation took over the structure, the tower and building were saved.

Bellefield
Tower & Cathedral of Learning Tower: All that remains and All
there is

A similar situation
occurred in
Pittsburgh
’s
Oakland
section.A Presbyterian Church
at the intersection of Fifth and Bellefield was razed, and the tower is
all that remains.Directly
across the corner is the Cathedral of Learning, where the tower is all
that there is.

Two
Towers at Pittsburgh Central Korean Church

Shadyside
Church
’s closest ecclesiastical neighbor is the
Pittsburgh
Central
Korean
Church
, at the opposite end of
Westminster Place
.Also Richardsonian
Romanesque it, was built as a Methodist church, designed by
Pittsburgh
’s flamboyant architect, Frederick Osterling.Its robust, tapered square tower looks incomplete.The corner buttresses look like they were meant to support a taller
tower, a spire or at least a substantial roof.Osterling, however, was known for unusual personal taste and
furnished a proportionally tiny roof (since removed).In
counterpoint to the main tower’s purely
visual purpose, he engaged a functional round stair tower to it.Stair towers often express their purpose though the spiral
disposition of their windows.

Apse
at Shadyside Church

Speaking of engaged
towers, we might well identify a third tower at Shadyside.In 1938, the apse was added to the east end of the sanctuary for
the communion table and mosaic.Its
external form is a half-round tower.